1. Find time to plan

It is optimal to have at least 45 minutes a week to co-plan. In the beginning, teachers may use a half-day or more to make long range plans. Planning is the most frequently raised issue in co-teaching. Without time to plan, teachers are not able to coordinate instruction, plan for individual students, or resolve differences. Work with your principal to establish time. Be creative. Some schools rearrange special area time; utilize teaching teams to cover classes; or make use of resources such as parents, volunteers, and university students.

2. Designate space

Designate a workspace for each teacher, as well as a place to store materials. If co-teaching occurs all day, it is ideal to move into a new classroom together to avoid “turf” issues.

3. Assign grades together

Effective co-teachers become familiar with standards and accountability for all students. They discuss, check, and assign grades together. Many co-teachers also choose to hold teacher-parent conferences together whenever possible.

4. Communicate with students and parents

Students and parents need to be informed about co-teaching. Without sufficient information, parents may believe incorrectly that the pace of the class will be slowed down when students with disabilities are included. Students need to understand how the team approach will work. Effective co-teachers:

• Provide an information sharing session at the beginning of the year for parents so that they learn about the co-teaching arrangement, the benefits of this approach for all students, and how the needs of all students will be met. Provide examples of co-teaching models so that parents can see that regardless of their student’s level, instruction will be tailored accordingly.
• Put both teachers’ names on correspondence (i.e., field trip forms, back to school night notices, volunteer requests) that goes home with students.
• Explain the benefits of co-teaching for all students.
  
• Tell students that two teachers will be able to spend more time helping all students learn.
  

5. Manage the classroom together

In the beginning, co-teachers talk explicitly about classroom management styles, standards, and teachers’ roles. If adjustments are made in management systems, make sure the students understand the changes.

6. Attend professional development workshops on co-teaching

Whenever possible, it is advisable that general education and special education teachers attend co-teaching workshops together to sharpen and refine their skills in this area. Attending workshops as a “team” provides opportunities to learn information together. Para-educators also should be invited to these co-teaching workshops if they are part of the co-teaching partnership. In addition, administrators can benefit from learning more about the factors that facilitate the success of co-teaching.

7. Identify and limit the number of students

Selecting students to be part of an inclusion classroom is key for successful co-teaching. When students with special needs are assigned to general education classes, consider the degree of disability presented by each student to ensure that the needs of all students can be met in the general education class.

Remember, many co-teaching partnerships involve the special education teacher spending a portion of his or her day in various general education classes. This arrangement implies that when the special education teacher moves on to the next general education classroom, the general education teacher is left alone to meet the needs of all students in the classroom. Therefore, it is imperative that the number of students with special needs who receive instruction in each general education class be considered carefully to ensure that teachers can meet the needs of all students throughout the school day.

When co-teaching partnerships involve the special education and general education teacher working together in the same class all day, then it is possible to increase the number of students with special needs in that class because two teachers will be present throughout the day to meet the needs of all students.

8. Manage the schedule

There is a limit to how many different classrooms and grade levels special education teachers  and can effectively manage. When planning for inclusion, make sure to balance the needs of the students with the reality of the teaching situation. Although this often a staffing issue, ideally a special education teacher does not have to divide time among more than three general education classrooms or between more than two grade levels.

9. Provide support for the general education teacher when the special education teacher is not present

Support should be given to general education teachers to meet the needs of students when the special education teacher is not present in the class. First, in some cases, para-educators may be assigned to students with special needs. Second, resources such as materials and instructional adaptations should be made available to assist the teacher. Third, the general education teacher can use student-mediated instructional arrangements (e.g., cooperative learning, peer tutoring).

10. Identify and address conflict

Conflict is unavoidable in any collaborative situation. However, specific issues are less important than the methods used to resolve them. As long as teachers have open lines of communication and discuss differences when they arise, co-teachers can work together effectively. By using a problem-solving approach (i.e., problem identification, solution identification, implentation plan, evaluation of the plan), conflict can usually be resolved in a mutually acceptable manner. We have seen the lines of communication break down most frequently when teachers do not have adequate time to plan together or when they fail to discuss issues when they first arise.